Vietnam responds to USS Lassen patrol around Chinese-built islands

Related parties in the East Vietnam Sea should contribute to maintaining
peace, stability, and maritime and aviation security and safety, the Vietnamese
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said.

Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh released this statement on Thursday in
relation to the fact that the U.S. had deployed guided-missile destroyer USS
Lassen to an area consisting of geographical structures belonging to Vietnam’s
Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the sea.

Binh reiterated that Vietnam has sovereignty over Truong Sa and Hoang Sa
(Paracel) archipelagos in the maritime area.

He added that Vietnam is a member of the 1982 United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Hanoi respects freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Vietnam Sea on
the basis of the convention and regulations of relevant coastal countries.

“Vietnam calls on related parties to actively contribute to maintaining
peace, stability, and maritime and aviation security and safety in line with
international law, including the UNCLOS and the Declaration on the Conduct of
Parties in the East Vietnam Sea (DOC),” Binh said in the statement.

On October 27 (Vietnam time), the U.S. Department of Defense said that
destroyer USS Lassen, escorted by two patrol planes of the U.S. Navy, completed
its patrol mission in the 12-nautical-mile area around the artificial islands
China has illegally constructed on Su Bi (Subi) and Vanh Khan (Mischief) Reefs,
part of Truong Sa.

Tran Cong Truc, former head of the Vietnamese government’s Border
Department, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that Washington had showed its
determination to ensure freedom of aviation and navigation in the East Vietnam
Sea by sending the destroyer to the area.

“The U.S.’s deployment of its warship to the 12-nautical-mile waters around
the artificial islands built up by China is totally legal, as these areas are
international seas,” Truc said.